One of my picks for my PERFECT SONG SERIES

The Emperor’s New Clothes by Sinead O’Connor is the perfect song. I should have posted this at least yesterday on St. Patrick’s Day if not earlier but as usual I’m late so here we are today.

It may not be her best song- but it was perfect for many reasons.

Oh, Sinead. What a beautiful, gifted, tragic, misunderstood, brave human.

I was vaguely aware of her from her 1987 album The Lion and the Cobra and Mandinka and the sexy as hell I Want Your Hands on Me. That song gets me….yowza!

But then the absolute blockbuster I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got came out in 1990. It contained Nothing Compares as well as the Prince penned Nothing Compares 2U that had that accompanying stunning video.

Emperor’s New Clothes was released as a single in June of 1990. The song topped Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart for a week. The song is probably Sinead’s most “rock and roll” song. And that’s why it’s perfect. It’s passionate, socially conscious, and has a personal, confessional feeling that is typical of many of her songs. It’s rumoured that the song is about U2. Supposedly she did not like them because she considered them too unwilling to really go against the mainstream. Sinead definitely was not afraid to be controversial. And she paid the price for being a truth-teller that’s for sure. We could use more truth-tellers in this fucked up world.

Sinead’s first husband John Reynolds is playing that intense drumming that opens the song. That beat is what really catches you- or me anyway. Andy Rourke of The Smiths plays bass on the track.

The lilt, the edge in her voice is just so choice here.

That intense guitar part, paired with that percussion before, what I think it the most powerful third verse, and most Sinead part of the song:

Everyone can see what’s going on

They laugh ‘cause they know they’re untouchable

Not because what I said was wrong

Whatever it may bring

I will live by my own policies

I will sleep with a clear conscience

I will sleep in peace

Damn, Sinead! If I had only a fraction of the guts that she had, the power in this declaration of independence, the guts to be who she was without apology. And at the end the driving outro, repeated over and over just sends the message home that she was a force to be reckoned with.

One reason I love this song is because it takes me back to a very specific time and place in my life. The lyrics

How could I possibly know what I want when I was only 21 just hit hard. Shit I still don’t know what I want and I’m waaaay past 21. The 1990s in my mind are encased in amber. The last decade before our culture, society, collective consciousness and unconscious changed. Before digital. Before the explosion of the internet. It was a great time to be young and I wish we could all go back.

All hail sister Sinead- Emperor’s New Clothes is the perfect song.

You can watch all my THE PERFECT SONG vids on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@SFB66